We look at the big name players coming into the free agency market in 2017
VOTE: IN THE next six months, Nathan Fyfe will have to make a big decision. He’s not the only one with several big name players entering free agency in 2017.
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SOME time in the next six months, Nathan Fyfe will have to make a big decision.
Fremantle’s superstar midfielder must either recommit to the Dockers’ rebuild, or become the most sought-after player in the game next year.
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Right now, the feeling among rival clubs is clear.
The AFL’s best player is gettable.
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The perfect storm is brewing in next year’s free agency period and Fyfe is the headline act of the most active and deepest talent pool we’ve seen since controversial free agency rules were introduced in 2012.
Brisbane captain Tom Rockliff has parked his contract talks as we wait to see what happens with coach Justin Leppitsch.
Geelong has already put out the welcome mat for another local lad, Gary Rohan.
And Ben Reid wants the Pies’ ballet strength and conditioning to help fix the same soft-tissue problems that have befallen brother, Sam, from Sydney.
They are all out of contract and free to move to the team of their choice in about 15 months’ time, as clubs become more aggressive in the race for these ready-made stars.
Victorian clubs are interested in luring home Port Adelaide’s Jackson Trengove, Steve Motlop’s worth fluctuates by the week, and Swan Josh Kennedy’s name keeps coming up.
As Geelong, Hawthorn and Sydney have shown, you don’t have to bottom out to re-enter, or remain, in the premiership race.
Smart trade moves are in vogue and, while this year’s free agency crop looking like a fizzer, moves are already afoot to position players and clubs for the frenzy that may be in store next year.
And Fyfe is the biggest carrot.
Until recently, it seems we have all assumed the Brownlow Medallist would stay in the west, happy to drive road trains and fly helicopters around his home state of Western Australia, in between trying to lead Fremantle to its first premiership.
But, after the Dockers’ surprise bottom-out this year, the 24-year-old must work out how long the turnaround will take, and if Melbourne’s Jesse Hogan will ever be a part of it.
Whether Fremantle can afford two $1 million a season players, given that is what it would probably take to lure Hogan west as well, is another matter.
But the Herald Sun believes that a move to Melbourne, or to any interstate club for that matter, is not off-limits for Fyfe. What the 117-gamer wants more than anything throughout the prime part of his career is premierships.
Now, even Ross Lyon concedes bluntly that Fyfe could go, if the Dockers don’t nail their rebuild.
“If Nathan believes in that plan and he sees success coming his way, he’ll be here, I’ve got no doubt,” Lyon said recently.
“But if he doesn’t believe in the plan and we don’t bring him along he’d be a chance to leave, I think it’s as simple as that.”
We assume it would take a Lance Franklin-type deal to poach Fyfe, in excess of $1.5 million a season over seven or more years. But the increased salary cap makes it possible.
That would be fair price for a player who perhaps put on the best individual performance we have ever seen through the first half of last season, racking up an incredible 29 of a possible 39 Brownlow Medal votes in 13 games.
He is a wrecking ball, Fyfe, who can play virtually everywhere.
By that we mean on the field, and, around the country.
Originally published as We look at the big name players coming into the free agency market in 2017
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